Daily Outrage: US terror suspect in Yemen worked at five nuclear sites

Tools

WHAT: Before he was rounded up in a sweep of suspected al-Qaida terrorists in Yemen, Mobley was a laborer at five nuclear plant complexes in Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania between 2002 and 2008. Authorities are investigating whether he might have gained any access to information useful to terrorists — such as how to slip into a reactor site and effectively blow it up.

HOW: Temporary workers like Mobley get basic screenings before being hired at nuclear plants — criminal history checks, drug testing, psychological assessments and identity verification. On the jobs, Mobley carried supplies and worked on routine maintenance mostly during periodic refueling outages, when hundreds of contract employees crowd into the plants.

WHY: Mobley, 26, was born in New Jersey and moved to Yemen about two years ago, supposedly to learn Arabic and study Islam. He was among 11 al-Qaida suspects detained there this month. He then complained of feeling sick, and at the hospital he allegedly snatched a gun — fatally shooting one guard and wounding another before being recaptured.